New Year, New You?

This month’s post is going to be short, I promise. I recognize that most of the time I’m talking about how to become a healthier version of yourself, and I’ll admittedly get a little preachy sometimes. But the truth is, it saddens me to see a nation of sick people, popping pills to get through the day, and insisting they’ll never be any better than they currently are. Granted, some people have a lot going against them, but the simple fact is that if you’re fighting yourself, you’ll never get better. I’m going to give a few ideas to help you actually make this year the year that your health is high priority. Forget the resolution. I actually hate New Year’s Resolutions. If you’re serious about making changes in your life, make today a milestone instead of some day that your calendar insists is important. The idea of a resolution is great: I’m going to make this year the best ever, starting right now. It’s just the presentation that bothers me. Maybe you read this awesome chiropractor’s blog in May and think, “I’d really like to start eating a more clean diet,” but it’s May, so you put that idea off for next year’s resolution. Seems kind of ridiculous, but that’s my point. Making changes in your life doesn’t require anything but a mindset change; no calendar necessary.

Add more “good” until the “bad” is outnumbered. Dr. James Chestnut talks about carrying a backpack while trying to stay afloat in water. If you do bad things for your body (sit all day, skip workouts, eat crappy), you’re essentially adding rocks to your backpack. The heavier your backpack gets, the harder it is for you to stay afloat: the harder it is for you to survive. If, on the other hand, you do good things for your body (take mini breaks at work and move around, work out regularly, skip the grains and go for veggies instead), you remove rocks from your backpack. In that scenario, you can either fight to stay afloat all the time, or just bob along with ease. (For the record, I don’t recommend trying the actual exercise, as it could be dangerous, and I don’t want anyone drowning.) So just remember: more good than bad.

Small steps instead of huge changes. Maybe going 100% Paleo isn’t the easiest thing to accomplish, but maybe adding a serving of vegetables to each meal is an acceptable change. The idea behind that is eventually you get used to eating the vegetables, and have less room for fillers like grains and dairy. Or maybe twice a week, you can do strict Paleo to start off with. Yes, it’s difficult to change how you eat, but if you fuel your body with excellent sources for nutrients, you’ll feel amazing and be able to accomplish a lot more.

I promised a short post, so I’m ending it here. Three ideas to help you get 2013 started off right, and keep you on track. 1. Don’t think in terms of calendars, just set small goals for yourself, and track when you reach them. 2. Keep yourself afloat by doing more good than bad. 3. Make small changes so you’re not overwhelmed.